Friday, October 5, 2012

s/t - You'll Never Get To Heaven

You’ll Never Get To
Heaven

You’ll Never Get To
Heaven

Divorce Records.

SCQ Rating: 79%

For a duo that
incorporates most of its source material from 20th century classical
and 70s dub records, You’ll Never Get To Heaven doesn’t sound as distinct as
one might imagine. But maybe “distinct” isn’t the idea here; Chuck Blazevic’s
soundscapes tread a gamut of pristine, melodic snippets and gritty, textural
exposition, suggesting a mysterious but no less tangible universe. With
vocalist Alice Hansen’s soft coos as a guide, this debut unfurls with the
one-two punch of “Drowning Out” and the break-beat indebted “You’ve Got the
Sun” before slithering through an assortment of weird, sonic pastures.

Even when You’ll
Never Get To Heaven acknowledges modern pop music by obeying a loose
verse/chorus structure, their compositional foundation remains defiantly
ambient. In that respect, this London Ontario duo consolidates its sound like
My Bloody Valentine (moreso than other contemporary electronic-pop kids such as
Purity Ring, Phantogram) as heard on “Come Over”, a pop song struggling to
exist in the shadow of an overbearing ambient piece. Other tracks that carry
prerogatives dualistic in nature include “Little Vera”, in which Hansen
counteracts a pounding albeit twinkling blood-rush, and “Violet”, a procession
of quiet surges that contemplate brimming over.

This You’ll Never
Get To Heaven LP is not only a surprising turn for Divorce Records but a minor
revelation for Canada’s independent scene. Be sure to catch this on vinyl
before its limited run – only 300 copies – expires.